Any institutional approach to improving graduation rates must include faculty. Faculty, more than anyone else, deliver an institution's "promise," one course at a time. They also evaluate whether or not students have demonstrated sufficient mastery of the subject at hand to make "progress" toward their degrees. This article considers how…

The portrait of the American college senior is a mix of economic pressures and shifting choices. Understanding that the senior year represents another critical transition point for college students, many U.S. colleges and universities are taking intentional steps to help students bring closure to their collegiate experience and accomplish the…

There is a growing body of literature about assessment in higher education. Much of it is devoted to advocating the benefits of assessment, describing how assessment initiatives and programs might be organized within an institution, identifying key attributes of successful assessment projects (leadership, resources, faculty engagement), and…

Public accountability for higher education has undergone a paradigm shift. (Contains 1 table.)

Institutional research can enhance an institution's competitive advantage through admission research by comparing the characteristics of inquirers who apply with those who do not; by documenting trends in the characteristics of applicants; and by conducting studies of accepted students, comparing those who matriculate with those who do not.…

The top priority for college and university administrators should be to ensure that their instructional programs, and thus their entire institutions, are managed in the most efficient and effective manner possible. Proper management of fiscal resources determines the degree to which institutions are open and affordable. Review of the current…

Ohio University's experience with assessment has had two phases: the first was devoted to providing university-wide assessment information to faculty and staff; the second to supporting individual academic units' needs for assessment information. While assessment is a tool used by the university to refocus its publicly perceived primary mission of…

The master's degree is underestimated as a contributor to effective careers. It should be regarded as an enriching and valuable experience in its own right, not as second-class or as a stepping stone to the doctorate. By providing students with appropriate learning, professional development, and leadership experiences, master's programs become…

Major initiatives at the federal, state, and local levels reflect expectations of what college students are to learn, particularly in key cognitive abilities and communication skills. These external pressures may ultimately influence more faculty and administrators to find ways to raise student levels of learning, reform the curriculum, and…

Speech codes and assessment mandates diminish academic freedom and instructional quality in higher education. Classroom speech and activities should be under individual faculty control; scholarly failure is the only basis for questioning classroom conduct; society's legal institutions should address legal issues; and informal norms should be…

The State University of New York College at Fredonia undertook a long-term assessment of its general-education curriculum. The experience confirmed that dedicated college faculty can design and implement ambitious tests to assess general learning based on curriculum design and goals, but that it is very difficult to administer them over time with…

Articulation of clear, specific expectations for student learning can lead to better classroom teaching and assessment techniques. The system used at Alverno College (Wisconsin), and particularly the use of stated expectations for English majors, illustrates this concept. Defining expectations can also help create coherence across and entire…

Higher Education's "accountability movement" is being accompanied by greater use of performance indicator systems in response to external mandates in the United States and Europe. These indicators are usually designed to examine institutional productivity relative to the public investment made in it, as contrasted with evaluation of…

A discussion of the performance indicator system used at the University of Wisconsin to provide feedback to stakeholders and encourage continuous improvement of services includes background on the system's context and development, legislative and governing board involvement, resulting recommendations, and three examples of specific accountability…

Outlines ten principles important for the successful practice of outcomes assessment, based on the experience of a variety of institutions. Notes several salient barriers to success (lack of faculty support, changes in institutional leadership and circumstances, limitations in assessment tools and methods, insufficient student involvement,…